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What has the explosion of the "meta-universe" brought to LED enterprises?
2021.10.09If you ask what the hot concept is right now, the metasverse is definitely on the list. At present, including Microsoft, Facebook, Tencent, Bytedance, and other tech giants have a layout.
What exactly is the meta-universe? What is its charm?
Identity: Start Second Life by creating an avatar in the virtual world.
Immersion: Use VR/AR and other devices to enhance immersion, which can be used for entertainment, work, study, fitness and other activities.
Low latency: Reduce latency between servers and eliminate distortion through cloud platform.
Diversity: The virtual world has the freedom and diversity beyond the reality, can realize the non-reality pursuit, such as flying, teleportation and so on.
Anywhere: The virtual world can be accessed at any time across terminals, regardless of location.
Economic system: Virtual currency can be used for transactions in the virtual world, and virtual currency can be exchanged with real currency.
Civilization: As the virtual world becomes more prosperous and reaches a certain level of users and content richness, the virtual world will evolve into another civilized society.
In terms of technology, the book "Meta Universe Token" mentions that there are six supporting technologies in the meta universe.
Figure: A panorama of the six major technologies of BIGANT in the meta-universe (Source: Meta-Universe Token, Chinese Translation Publishing House)
On the one hand, VR, AR, MR, holographic projection technology can help us get rid of the bondage of space, is the human docking meta-universe entrance level terminal;
On the other hand, the ever-deepening perceptual interaction technologies, such as brain-computer interaction and sensing technology, provide users of the meta-universe with more real and effective somesthesia and bring deeper immersive experience.
Interaction technology is the power point of LED industry in the concept of metasexes. VR, AR, MR, holographic projection technology, brain-computer interaction, sensing technology, etc., will become the development opportunities for LED enterprises.
We know that the simultaneous satisfaction of all five senses is a prerequisite for increasing immersion. Among them, vision, as the most intuitive way to explore the world, is the main starting point of imagination. As a visual carrier in the metasomes, screen is increasingly valued.
At present, the mainstream display technology has LCD, OLED, Mini/Micro LED. Each of the three techniques has its own advantages, disadvantages and scope of application.
Among them, Mini LED backlight technology not only retains the advantages of LCD, but also integrates some characteristics of OLED, which has the advantages of energy saving, thinness, wide color gambit, high contrast and fine dynamic partition. In addition to displays and tablets, VR equipment is also one of the key application fields of this technology.
Although Micro LED has no advantage in short-term cost, it has greater potential in resolution than LCD and OLED, and high resolution is indispensable for near-eye display devices. Therefore, Micro LED has become a strong competitor in AR/VR/MR device display technology.
On the other hand, in addition to game applications, various remote interactive functions brought by virtual communities will also become important applications for manufacturers to develop the AR/VR market. Therefore, the AR/VR market will expand significantly in 2022 with the adoption of low-cost hardware strategy and improved acceptance of application scenarios, prompting the market to pursue more realistic AR/VR effects.
At present, AR/VR has become the key layout of LED enterprises in the field.
In terms of chips, Hua Can photoelectric recently said in the investor interactive platform, the company Mini/Micro LED chips can be applied to VR/AR technology equipment.
In terms of production capacity, Hucan Photoelectric will complete a private increase of RMB 1.5 billion in the second half of 2020, of which RMB 1.2 billion will be invested in Mini/Micro LED project, which is mainly used to produce Mini/Micro LED epitaxial chip and Mini/Micro LED chip.
In terms of intellectual property rights, Hucan Photoelectric signed a patent license agreement with Semicon Light in December 2020, involving about 250 global registered patents of Semicon Light's flip LED chip and packaging technology, aiming to drive key technologies of Mini/Micro LED and other new displays.
In addition, Hucan photoelectric infrared LED business can also be applied in VR equipment.
Among packaging/module enterprises, Hongli Zhihui has begun to provide Mini LED products for global head VR enterprises. It is reported that Hongli Zhihui has a relatively early layout in VR field, and in the second half of last year has been mass production of VR products for international well-known companies.
Lonley Technology's Mini LED technology has achieved a breakthrough in THE field of VR research and development, and reserves relevant technologies. At present, Lonli VR products have entered the supply chain of the world famous enterprises and achieved batch delivery.
It is reported that Longli Technology invested in Mini LED production capacity by raising about 180 million yuan in 2020, including 6 lines of flat /NB/ display layout, 10 lines of vehicle-mounted layout and 1 line of intelligent wearable layout.
Jufei focuses on developing UV/IR LED and VCSEL in the field of invisible light. At present, Jufei optoelectronics has been recognized by a number of first-tier smart wear brands and has made gratifying breakthroughs in the field of smart sensors, becoming a new profit growth point for the company.
Ruifeng Photoelectric Mini LED related technology has also been applied to VR field, related products are under development.
In the first half of 2021, The sales revenue of VR backlight display module products of Weiser Electronics reached 46.527,800 yuan, accounting for 7.88% of the company's sales revenue, with a year-on-year growth of 135.61%. It was revealed that the end user of its VR backlight display module is Oculus.
In terms of display/panel enterprises, Leyard acquired 100% equity of NP Company in 2017 to start VR business. At present, VR business has become one of Leard's four business segments (display, night travel, cultural travel, VR).
In the first half of this year, NP also released A beta version of Motive 3.0, which builds on the original features of Motive 2.0, making it easier for users to use, more traceable objects, and adding industry-leading features such as continuous calibration and occlusion.
Vicino's joint venture, Chengdu Chenxian, recently successfully developed a 1.84 inch Micro LED wearable product with a pixel density of 326 ppi. The product has a 1600Nit display brightness, 180° wide viewing Angle and 98% DCI-P3 high color gamut.
In terms of Micro LED, Konka has established a Micro LED full-process R&D production line, and successfully launched a micro-LED microcrystal screen with small spacing applied to wearable products.
On the international front, VueReal, a Canadian Micro LED technology developer, announced on August 26 that it has received volume orders for its transparent Micro LED displays from automotive and aerospace customers. VueReal's new glass-based transparent Micro LED display is 85% transparent, with a size of 3-4 inches and a brightness of over 3000nit. It is designed for wearable, in-car, AR and other display applications.
On August 12, ACTIVE Matrix Micro LED display manufacturer JBD announced a partnership with Porotech, a Cambridge University affiliate and GaN Micro LED material developer. According to Porotech, THE Gan-based Micro LED is widely recognized as the only technology that can meet the high brightness and high efficiency requirements of wearable devices such as AR/VR. JBD recognizes the great potential of Porotech's technological breakthrough and will develop the InGaN red Micro LED display based on this technology. Targeting applications such as AR/VR headsets, AR smart sports goggles and head-mounted displays.
It is worth noting that JBD successfully launched 0.13 inch Micro LED microdisplay last year, and launched 0.13 inch J013X01VGA series microdisplay products based on AR application globally on June 11 this year.
In terms of terminals, Xiaomi officially released mi Smart Glasses Exploration edition on September 14. The product uses Micro LED display technology and optical waveguide technology to achieve independent intelligent terminal device experience in a body similar to traditional eyes.
Photo credit: Xiaomi official
On the other hand, LEDinside notes that the boundaries between real and virtual are blurring.
Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang delivered the keynote address at the GTC Summit in April. In order to demonstrate the technology of the 3D simulation platform, the virtual "Hwang In-hoon" gave a speech for 14 seconds.
On September 23, the first virtual digital human "Cloud Sheng" created by Huawei Cloud was officially unveiled at huawei Fully Connected Conference. It is reported that "Cloud Sheng" is huawei cloud based on digital content production line, through AI automatic modeling, AI voice drive, AI rendering acceleration and other technologies, to create the first "virtual digital man". At present, Yunsheng has officially joined Huawei Cloud as a new employee.
We can create an alter ego in the virtual world, and the virtual person can interact with the real world.
In fact, the emergence of virtual people has greatly enriched the ecology of the meta-universe. On the one hand, virtual people can be applied to various scenes in real life to help us get better experience. On the other hand, real humans enter the meta-universe in the form of virtual avatars, and they will form the indigenous people of the meta-universe together, generating new emotional interactions and establishing new social relationships in work, life and study. Meta-universe can bring wonderful, is now unimaginable.
It is worth noting that the metasverse is still in the conceptual exploration stage worldwide, and it is attracting a lot of attention as well as excitement.
Among them, game companies, which are closely related to the concept of the meta-universe, are in a period of reorganization. On September 8, various departments held an interview with Tencent, netease and other key online game enterprises, game account rental and sales platforms, and game live broadcasting platforms, emphasizing the requirements for each online game enterprise and platform.
And ceng hot, speculation concept behavior is also regulated in the A - share market. Among them, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a letter of concern to the game company Tom Cat, asking to explain the specific business situation.
As the saying goes, "the ideal is full, the reality is very skinny". Facing the hustle and bustle of the market, we need a calm, a rational.
The meta-universe is a grand concept, and the development of technology, the reduction of cost, the determination of profit model, the determination of virtual world code of conduct, etc., all have great uncertainties. In the long run, this great new industry will be perfected and developed, but it is not easy to predict who will emerge as the winner.
As far as interaction technology is concerned, the key display technology Micro LED has many difficulties to be solved. From the bottleneck of epitrite technology, Mass Transfer yield and packaging test in the early stage, to the subsequent detection and maintenance, it is a great challenge. It also affects the mass production of Micro LED.
As consumers, we need to be clearly aware that the future of the meta-universe is promising, but the process is tentative. We should avoid blindly and following the trend.
Wen: LEDinside